


The Oracle Road

by TwoCatsTailoring



Series: The Lives Within [8]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Adventure, Alternative Point of View, Angst, Gen, In Game, alternative POV, probably? not sure? what do people angst about?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-21 11:12:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11942955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoCatsTailoring/pseuds/TwoCatsTailoring
Summary: Lunafreya has a story to tell of an adventure, faith, and following your path, even when it's hard. This fic will explore Luna’s side of things, from the tail end of Kingsglaive up until a little past Altissia. I’m aiming for as much whole-canon compliance as possible, exploring her thoughts, insights, and reasonings against the backdrop of her path ahead of Noctis. I have no intention of turning this into any sort of shipping fic. It’s about Luna. Period.





	1. Numb

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret’s first day and night of relative freedom were as informative as they were grueling. Walking across the causeway bridge from Insomnia to the mainland in the blazing sun then the pouring rain was a new kind of hard to her.

She had lived half of her life under the governance and rule of Niflheim, let out of her cage only long enough to keep the rest of the world from clamoring too loudly about their unfair treatment of the Oracle, who belonged to the world not to Niflheim alone. She had come of age fully aware of the political games that were played with the people of Eos, with her as a poster child for their fairness, and the strength of the gil as a testament to their power and might.

And the world was fooled, mostly. At least distracted by the fact that things could not be that bad if they still allowed the Oracle to serve the people. And the convoys and guards were for her protection. No one ever questioned what she needed protecting from.

This had been her reality from the time Niflheim forced killed her mother and burned her home and stole her brother from her. Her leash short, her life assured but made miserable if she defied the order of her captors. Her lone bright spots being that even the might of Niflheim was powerless in the face of messengers who could shed all of time, space, and reality itself to bring her small, seemingly unimportant missives from her one and only friend, the anchor who brought her world something like normalcy, Noctis.

And she had reveled in it. Umbra, being the naturally secretive animal he was, was the perfect messenger, never arriving or leaving when Luna had company beyond Gentiana. It strained communications when she was traveling, but during those times, she did nothing but drink in the slices of normal lives that she got to see, listening intently to the stories of the elderly who came to her and watching carefully as people her age lived their lives so removed from her own.

Life, in short, had never been easy and had often been extremely difficult. But this removal, this forced exodus with so many people who were now homeless, many of them young or old or sick, was a new type of hard that she had no experience with and felt powerless to change.

Not healing the sick and injured was made even harder by  her need now to be anonymous. She thought that if she could just touch people, help them walk, she might be able to ease some of the pain she saw on people’s faces but before they had even cleared the ring-wall, she had heard rumors of her own death. Traveling inconspicuously had been her top priority and being dead made it easier but to heal, even just a little bit!, would have shattered the illusion of her death which might be vital once they were on the open road. And while it gave her pain to move on and not help where she knew she could, she had to keep moving, she couldn’t ignore her destiny.

It broke her heart. But in her sorrow, glancing back at a man who had gone from shuffling to stumbling to being supported as he slowly made his way forward and wishing fervently that there was a way she could aid him other than her prayers, Luna received her first lesson in humanity up close and personal.

She’d always been on the outside of these things, serving the people of Eos, healing their hurts, comforting and healing and helping. What she knew of life, of friends, of the goodness of people was limited to her experiences with servants and looking in from the outside on her Niflheim-escorted trips to see and heal the sick.

So when a man slipped next to her and put a hand on her arm, her first thought was that her clothes had given her away, that her hopes of passing unnoticed were all for nothing. Her throat clenched, her heart raced, and she braced herself to deny her own Calling.

But the small smile the man offered and her words, “I know it’s hard. Just a little further to Leide. Then we won’t have to walk so much,” caught Luna off guard. She followed his progress for as far as she could see him, watching as he walked with those who were clearly tired, offering kind words and hope that made backs straighten and stormy faces soften.

Further into the trek, while she took a few moments rest, slipping her shoes off and rubbing her instep, a group of women parted the crowd, stopped next to her,  and started rummaging in their bags. The result was a complete change of clothes – a shirt from one, pants from another, socks, shoes, and even a hat – plus a spare water bottle and small drawstring backpack. Luna accepted everything with wide-eyed gratitude, thanking them over and over again as they made privacy for her to change, standing shoulder to shoulder to block her from the view of others passing by.

“Thank you all, so much. I have to ask, why?”

One, a tiny woman who’s socks were as soft as clouds and had little blue puffs at the back, explained. “We were all at aerobics when the attacks came. So we grabbed our gym bags and ran.”

“Turns out that was a good instinct,” a tall redhead said, hitching her bag on her shoulder. “You aren’t the first person who wasn’t dressed for escaping hell.”

The laughter they shared at that was short, dark and hollow. The laughter of people who are just trying to survive. The women took their leave of her then, her thanks going with them and her heart lifting a blessing on them all for health and safe travels.

Luna supposed she wasn’t. Insomnia didn’t see this coming, and it showed in every person who carried nothing, every discarded set of keys on the ground, in every face that grew more and more strained and blank as the hours of daylight leeched away.

And when dusk fell, leaving the causeway behind for the open the waning fear of pursuit by Niflheim’s forces gave way to the palpable fear of daemons who would lurk just outside of the range of phone lights and flashlights. Night came quickly and with the failing light, the ethereal smoke of a haven could be seen, not far off the road past the blockade and installment at Ostium Gorge.

Luna silently thanked the Oracle’s past as the group made their way forward. She’d never been near a haven before and knew nothing of their method of creation until she stepped into the protective circle of this one. Then, the knowledge of the Oracles of old came to her.  And so did an idea.

There were so many people, not all of whom would be able to fit into the small space of Palmaugh Haven. But here was something she knew she could do. So while everyone tried to fit in, Luna circled the group, all but invisible in her new clothes with her hat pulled low over her eyes, she shuffled her feet, drawing more runes in the sandy dirt, blessing them under her breath, extending the haven’s protections even if it was a temporary measure.

These people had shared water, clothing, food, and company with her and with one another. Hundreds of them, all together in sorrow and anger but also all together to help and watch over one another. As the camp settled down for the night, Luna slipped away.

She didn’t have much time. Niflheim would surely close the borders soon and she must make it through before that happened. She must make it to Duscae and to the Archaean ahead of Noctis. She had to prepare the way for him. The fate of the world demanded it.


	2. Surprises

She should have stayed at the haven for the night. 

That was all that Luna could think as she wandered for what felt like hours without seeing anything even remotely like civilization in the Leide desert. She had heard and read that it was an unforgiving place, open and dry with sandstorms coming more regularly than rain, but in the dark it was even worse. 

She had managed to avoid the wildlife, she knew because she had passed several sleeping groups of what looked to be terribly thin dogs with fangs and had almost stepped on one far-too-large scorpion. And her movements went unnoticed by any daemons in the area. 

A perks, she assumed, of being the Oracle.

Even if the Oracle was as underdressed for this trip as she had been over-dressed for the removal from Insomnia. How did a place so terribly hot in daylight get so impossibly cold at night? Her fingers were numb, her nose was running, and she could no more stop her teeth from chattering than she could change the tides of fate that kept her moving forward.

It was a few hours from dawn when a glow of the bluish lights caught her attention to the… North? Yes, it was north because there was Bahamut’s Belt in the sky and that stayed as north as anything. She was going to have to stop, if only to warm up and set out again. 

A sign along the road indicated that she was coming up on a Hunter’s Outpost and she couldn’t suppress a small thrill at the idea of finally meeting actual Hunters. Everything she had ever heard was that they were a rough and foolish lot, determined to beat back the ever-increasing number of beasts and daemons that threatened the inconsequential settlements in Lucis outside the Crown City herself. 

That information, of course, had to be filtered and stripped of its Imperial bias, but doing that had only left her more curious about the men who took Hunting up as a profession. Because from all indication, it was a legitimate profession! One those men trained for and worked hard to excel at at, physically demanding as it was. And there was no way that Hunting was for fools either. Wild beasts and daemons came in all types and sizes, so surely when it came to battling against them, it was not a one-method-works-every-time situation.

Her curiosity was enough to propel her the last little way, sliding into the ring of light at a quietly busy settlement of ruined buildings and wooden barns. People in drab clothing moved about looking purposeful with weapons at their hips or backs and sturdy packs in hands or at their feet. 

To her surprise, there were women here as well. Lots of them. At least half of the people who were shouldering weapons or sorting through their belongings were women! Her age, younger, older. All shapes and sizes and faces. And she was free to talk to them as much as she liked, actually having a conversation, like normal people! No glowering guards, no wall of formality and deference, no impending exhaustion afterwards.

As soon as she had that thought she felt guilty for it. It was not untrue: the exhaustion of healing the scourge was intense, but she did not mind the healing itself. That was her duty, and her privilege as the Oracle to be able to ease pain of those who suffered and she would have it no other way. But it was hard not to be excited at the prospect of doing something ordinary for a change. 

She took a moment to close her eyes, expressing her forgiveness to the Gods for her careless thoughts. When she opened them again, she moved forward. Further into the camp, catching another thrill as she realized there was a caravan here as well. 

How exciting would it be to stay the night in a caravan?!

Exciting and sensible. The caravan presented the answer to most of the problems she was facing at that very moment. First was the fact that she was still bone cold from her nocturnal trip across the desert. The second was that she was reasonably sure that walking into the settlement while it was still dark would raise questions she wasn’t prepared to answer, but walking out of a caravan come morning might be a little less unusual. And third, she was starving and fairly sure that caravans came with kitchens. Now, if only it was unoccupied….

And to her good fortune it was, and paid in full for the whole night but with no signs of an occupant returning. She sent up a silent prayer for privacy and peace while she heated up a can of soup she found in the cupboard and settled in for what was left of the night.

The following morning - a day that came sooner than she really wanted it to - her fears about being recognized proved unfounded as the news of Insomnia’s fall had made it out to the world at large. Luna caught a glimpse of the headlines as she skirted the edges of the small groups clustering together around newspapers and the radio.

The stillness in the early morning light was very telling for the groups that had been so active even in the small hours of the morning when she had arrived. The activity was gone, the purpose halted as packs were forgotten and breakfasts went cold in the face of a brutal reality. 

But as she circled, she began to realize that the despair that she’d witnessed on the long trek over the causeway bridge wasn’t present here. In it’s place there was a resignation of sorts. As if they had expected something like this to happen. 

She lingered as long as she could, accepting coffee from one Hunter and a handy breakfast of eggs, ham, and cheese on toasted bread from another as she listened. They had expected this. Some of their number had seen the warships, the same ones that had been a brief prison for her - had it only been a day and a half ago?

It had been a day and a half ago, she had to go. She knew Niflheim, knew how they worked. She knew well enough that if she did not go now, she would miss her chance at slipping through to make for the Archaean. If the headlines were screaming of the death of the King, Prince, and Oracle now, wherever Noctis was she did not have much time to get ahead of him. 

And that, above everything else, was what she had to do. The Archaean needed to be woken, beseeched to aid Noctis as he returned the light to the world. It was Noctis duty to do that and without her going ahead of him, he would never succeed.  _ That  _ was her duty.

She purchased a few provisions - she might have had a sacred duty to perform, but how was she supposed to say no to chocolate covered peanuts? - before she slipped away from the outpost in the sudden burst of activity that seemed to be born from a man addressed as Dave suggesting that the Hunters head for Insomnia to locate and assist any refugees. 

She knew that Duscae was to the West, and with the sun rising higher in the sky by the moment, Luna headed out on her way, her path skirting the high cliff face that seemed to lead the right direction.

In under an hour she had arrived at the blockade to find it still unmanned and her progress still free. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself for hidden dangers - Niflheim did not seem to be present but that was no guarantee - she began to cross the rough pavement between the double gates at the blockade.

The tension in her grew with every unchallenged step that she took. Was Niflheim so bold as to not guard this location? Were they so confident in their control of Lucis that there was no need for them to have a presence here? 

Had things gone so much worse than she expected in Insomnia that there was no need for a blockade at all? What about the night previous, with all those refugees on the road? Were they alright? Were they dead?

It pained her to think that the reason for her present ease was bought with even more needless loss of life. Was it not enough that so many had already died for her sake? And when she consulted the Astrals, going to them in prayer and supplication even as she forced herself to keep moving, she found no answers.

None until there was a familiar chill wind and a pair of happy barks that lifted her spirits higher than they had been in what felt like ages. Turning on her heel, she ran back to meet Pryna and Umbra, relief flooding her whole body at the sight of the notebook she and Noctis shared. If there was a message from him….

But there would be time for that later because with them came Gentiana and with Gentiana came the silent questions that only Luna had the answers for. 

_ “You have the Ring of the Lucii?” _

To that question, she couldn’t bring herself to answer out loud, merely showing Gentiana the Ring that King regis had given into her charge. It hummed in the presence of the divine, power knowing power, and Gentiana nodded.

_ “Where do you go hence?” _

“To the Archaean, to form the covenant as is my duty.”

_ “He awaits you at the Disc. Hurry to Him and be not afraid.” _

Luna had no idea if this was an answer to her earlier prayers or if it was a caution against being fearful of Titan himself and she made the conscious decision to not think too deeply about either option. She could not go back for anyone, her duties to the world and to Noctis were too pressing and too great to allow herself to stall over concern for those she’d left behind or to quake in fear for what lay ahead. 

_ “I will keep watch over the Chosen King. He will need your encouragement as well.” _

With that, Gentiana was gone as quickly as she had come, in a cool wind and the blink of an eye. Luna turned back to find Pryna and Umbra waiting patiently for her, tongues out and smiles on their faces. She knelt and untied the notebook, reading Noctis’s short message and sending one back in return. 

She wished, after Umbra had gone again, that Pryna would stay with her if only for the company of another living thing nearby. Luna glowed with happiness, her heart swelling with purpose anew, when the pale dog fell into step beside her as they crossed the threshold into Duscae and the lands that the Archaean called his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recognize that Luna is supposed to be wearing an impossibly white dress when she meets up with Pryna, Umbra, and Gentiana at the blockade, but I just can't reconcile that outfit if she's trying to travel incognito out of Insomnia and Leide. Unless she hitched a ride or got picked up by the Nifs but then somehow miraculously left on her own, I just can't see it. 
> 
> Plus, I just really want Luna to be walking across Lucis in reasonable shoes. Like, for real? I'll give her her white Astral's Alarm Clock dress, but I'm just not. Seeing. The white dress and traveling. At least not yet.


	3. All Creation

Her first look at Duscae had been in the early morning sunlight and it had been lovely. One of the most breathtaking things Luna had ever seen in her life, with the walls of rock stretching far into the distance to frame the Rock of Ravatogh.

Was it really so close? Or was it really so far but so large? She paused for a long time, hot pink and purple borrowed sneakers crunching over the scraggly grass and dirt under her feet. She stared, mind going blank in appreciation for what the Astrals created, and humbled, silent, and filled with awe at the power of the gods to create such wonders.

Luna understood, with new depth, what was at stake now. In the dark nights of her youth, before her public ascension, Gentiana had told her stories of how the Rock was Eos’s pyre, how her heart had been saved, removed, and that piece of her heart was the Crystal. How the heart of the Goddess of Light and Life herself, in the hands of the Chosen Line, was what kept the Eternal Night at bay.

But now? Now that was no more. The Crystal was compromised, in the hands of those who would drain it of its power, harness it for their own evil ends. The Niflheim Empire had changed, growing more and more cut off from the world all while sending their armies out into it. The detachment of the leadership, the eerie silence from Gralea, the masses of people who came through Tenebrae slowing to a trickle, then a drip, then nothing. Something was very, very wrong and now they had the heart of Eos in their possession.

Luna shook herself back to the present. This was no time for despair. So long as she was alive (And she very much was, as the muscles in her calves were reminding her. Perhaps she should have listened to Maria about not getting used to such high heels?) she could give the people of Eos hope for a future that would not be shrouded in darkness. She was happy to be able to do that.

Luna set off again, doing her best to ignore the ache in her calves and asking for blessings on Maria and everyone back home who she had left behind. Thoughts of home occupied her thoughts for a long while, Pryna loping along beside her or running ahead to snap at bugs or sniff new plants.

Or bring back sticks for Luna to throw. How it was that Pryna could run after a thrown stick what was probably five hundred times and not get tired of it was a mystery to Luna. But it passed the time and as the dog ranged ahead, she steered Luna away from beasts who meant harm. And directly into a herd of Garula who wanted nothing more than for this leaping, barking animal to go away so they could munch on the greenest grass Luna had ever seen.

It was also Pryna who directed Luna to the Coernix Station around mid-day. The smell of frying fish caught her nose soon after she spotted the building and when Luna realized that the location also held a Crow’s Nest, she was almost more excited than Pryna.

Her excitement did not last long however because eating would take gil, and gil was something that Luna had next to none of. Resigning herself to a station sandwich and a bottle of water, Luna was surprised when the attendant asked her first if she was buying or selling. She bought, took a seat, and watched as other customers came in. It took next to no time for her to realize that almost everything had some small value attached to it.

Everything from rusty nails to what looked like horns from some beast or another had a monetary value! Some things were easily understandable – like the vegetables and bits of shiny rocks (ore, they were called) – but even broken watches were worth something. It was a revelation and one she fully intended to exploit.

She finished her water in record time and was still thirsty. Counting her gil carefully, and secure in the knowledge that she could gain more if she needed it, she decided to try the Crow’s Nest in the off chance that they would have that same bubbly drink that had looked like fountain-water and tasted like the rock candy she and Ravus had snuck as children only with a lot more sugar.

They did! Jetty’s. It was almost disgusting, it was so sweet, and she had to drink it very slowly because Luna could feel the belch building just by smelling the fizzy drink. As she drank, she looked out the windows at the edges of the Disc in the distance and she listened.

The cook was free with information, marking maps for Hunters and travelers alike with locations of interest. Food spots were self-explanatory. Treasure spots seemed to be little stashes the Hunter’s kept supplied with more valuable items. Havens, fishing spots, and he warned almost everyone to find shelter before nightfall. Daemon activity was picking up.

Luna wished that she had a map, but then with the mention of a nearby Chocobo Post, she was glad that she did not. Just knowing here that was would be more temptation than she had time for. Luna finished off her soda, threw the bottle into the recycling bin near the road, and whistled for Pryna. The dog came loping along with a stick in her mouth and Luna shook her head, smiling fondly, before throwing it.

If her first look at Duscae had been a marvel, her first view of Alstor Slough was breathtaking. The pond glimmered under the sun, the grasses waved in a breeze, and behind it all was the white, glassy formation of the Disc of Cauthess, obscured by a slight haze. It didn’t seem that far, and after crossing the road and going down a short set of stairs, Luna found and picked up a one-lane track that headed in the direction of the Disc.

The afternoon passed peacefully enough with stick throwing and avoiding the slavering, wire-thin creatures that lurked along the slough. She ran out of path, but with the Disc easily visible in the distance – or at least easily visible from one of the many rocks that seemed to grow out of the ground – Luna had no worries about getting lost.

A few minor detours did eat into the daylight. She had to skirt around the base of one of the stone arches in order to avoid angering the wildlife, only to have to double back to keep from being trampled by a herd of some extremely tall black and white creatures with horns enough to put anyone off.

A lay-by where she crossed another road did yield some old coins that might be good for gil enough for a meal, but beyond that presented a problem. Because everywhere she looked, creatures with spiked armor and enough bad temper to rival Ravus during hockey season prowled about. The Disc was right there, too! So close now that she could touch her palm to the ground and feel it vibrate with Titan’s power. If only she could get there!

She paused then, kneeling with her hand in the dirt, and prayed to Titan, the Archaean Himself in His own land and in His own element, to guide her to Him. Under her hand, the earth groaned and shifted gently and in her body, her muscles tightened as if coiled to spring her forward. Visions sprang into her mind of a wall, a road, rings of rock radiating out. Of a gate open and unattended.

When the vision ended, Luna flopped back on her backside in the dirt, overcome with the taste of the power He possessed, even in slumber. For he was sleeping still she knew. And he would stay so until she woke him, not for herself as the Oracles of old did, but for the Chosen King.

The fog of His power cleared and her shaking limbs stilled, leaving behind a tiredness that would not even entertain the notion of standing up just yet. It was longer than she liked, the sun slanting low into the distance, before she made it to her feet and turned west, working her way slightly north, alongside the road as she went.

She was thankful that Pryna only carried her stick now, not even suggesting that Luna throw it as they crept by, just beyond the limited sight of the biggest and most terrifying cow Luna had ever seen. Night fell, the light slipping from the sky at last, and still they pressed forward until she was too tired to go another step.

Her last thought as she took slipped off to sleep in the shelter of a cluster of trees and the roadway arching over the soft grasses was relief that the Oracle blood in her veins seemed to be a haven of its own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have resorted to running Luna's path across Duscae with Noctis and the boys in Chapter 15, so if there's stuff that's a little off, please don't kill me? I'm not really sure when the giant cow turns up at the intersection of those two roads in Duscae, but it's a really good place marker, so he's here for her to pass by and be mildly alarmed at.
> 
> And no, I still have no idea what I'm going to do about that stinking white dress. That might just have to be my major departure from canon. Who travels in white, oh my gosh Luna!


End file.
